Adventures in Felting

I finally finished the knit draft-stopper I have been working on (and off) for it feels like forever this weekend. I started it in the winter when our house was like an ice box and the door to our mud room has a 2 inch gap under it (why?). There isn't any heat in the mud room so the heat from the living room got sucked out. Enter: draft-stopper.

It was a fairly brainless knit - nothing fancy, just stockinette stitch and all I had to do was count rows to know when to start my next color. I used 100% wool (Lopi by Reynolds) because it would need to be felted. It was easy but it felt like it went on and on forever! So, here is the draft-blocker in pictures and explanations!



This is the draft-blocker pre-felting. I felt like it was miles long and it was difficult knitting near the end because it was so long and heavy and it took more than just a second to get everything adjusted to knit a new row.



A close-up of the pretty stitches pre-felting to show you the difference with the next picture...



A close-up after felting. Felting 101: Felting is a blending together of wool yarn to make it into more of a fabric than a knit. I placed the draft-stopper in the washing machine on a hot/cold cycle (it's the hot water that does the felting) with several towels to help it along. After washing I popped it in the dryer for just 5-10 minutes to get a majority of the 'wet' out and then stretched it into shape and let it dry the rest of the day.



Here's another shot of the whole thing laid out after felting and drying - notice that it shrunk (it was supposed to) and isn't rolled anymore. The miracle of wool + water!



AND the final product - sewn and filled with kitty litter. Tah-dah! It's not a sweater but I am still pretty impressed with it. On to the next project...